Unexpected News

It wasn't even the middle of the night when the runner piloted by Jun Li landed in the park closest to my condo. And when I say it wasn't the middle of the night, I mean it was like 11 o'clock in the morning local time.

There were even people playing on the play structure 20 feet away and they didn't even blink an eye. It looked like the cloaking technology that Jun Li had on the runner was not to be scoffed at. I walked down the plank after being reassured that the runner would stay in the air above the park high enough that no one would be able to bump into it but not so high that it would be easily detected by air or ground radar.

Apparently, Jun Li had done this a lot to know all the minute details that it took in order to slip contraband off of a planet and back into the ship waiting just on the other side of the moon.

I breathed in a lungful of Earth air and started coughing uncontrollably. "You are not used to the high level of oxygen yet. I suggest that you take your time in enjoying Earth's air," came a voice from inside of the implant that I had inserted before leaving the ship.

A small part of me was worried that this all might be a dream and now that I was back on Earth, Jun Li was just going to fly off without me. To make sure that couldn't happen, I had him install the chip into me behind my ear that was both a two-way radio and a tracking device. He might be able to leave me, but at least I would know that I wasn't crazy.

"It is so weird to be breathing actual air and not the synthetic stuff on the ship," I admitted even though I know it wasn't synthetic. It was the recycled air that you got on airplanes, but this one was optimized to my breathing standards, or so I thought.

"I will ignore that comment," said Jun Li as I felt a light gust of air behind me as the runner lifted up to the tree line. "Besides, I only increased the nitrogen a fraction on the ship and I will continue to do so until you are used to higher levels."

"Why would you do that?" I asked as I walked down the sidewalk towards my condo building. Thankfully I didn't need any keys as everything was done by thumbprint scanners. It was one of the reasons why I went with that particular building, I wouldn't need to constantly need to remember my keys.

"That way you will live longer," said Jun Li causing me to pause.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked concerned.

"You really didn't know that oxygen was poisonous? Especially for any human with Rh negative blood?" he asked sounding confused like this was something that I was just supposed to have already known.

"No, I was not aware that oxygen was poisonous," I hissed as I crossed a street looking around to make sure that no one was paying attention to me talking to myself. Maybe I would get a Bluetooth or something so it would look like I was on the phone when I was really talking to Jun Li.

"It is though. I mean, it takes about 80 years or so for you to breathe in so much of it that it becomes lethal, but still."

I was stunned at that idea. "How could you determine that it is lethal after 80 years of breathing it in? I mean, the average human life span is only 83 years in first-world countries," I said pointing out the obvious fault in his theory. We were naturally dying by then so how could anyone say that it was because of the oxygen?

"And that doesn't strike you as a coincidence?" huffed Jun Li in his smarter-than-thou voice. I narrowed my eyes at his statement.

"What's your proof?" I demanded as I entered the lobby of my building. Waving to the security guard I walked over to the elevator. Pressing the button to bring the elevator to me, I waited for Jun Li's answer.

"If you need oxygen in order to live, then why couldn't you handle 100% oxygen without consequences… like being poisoned," he said with was I was sure was a shit eating grin.

"And what does that have to do with having Rh negative blood?" I asked as the elevator doors dinged open. Stepping inside I pressed the button for the 15 floor.

"Nothing, it's just that if you have Rh negative blood you would be able to handle more nitrogen than oxygen," said Jun Li as if he was trying to duck out of the conversation.

"Oh no you don't," I growled as the elevator door opened and a few people got on. Putting on a strained smile, I hissed into the earpiece. "Tell me what the hell is going on," I demanded causing some people to look at me. Turning around I brought my hand up to my ear as if I was having a conversation on the phone.

"Fine," Jun Li sighed as if I was the problem in this conversation. "Less than 6% of the human population has Rh negative blood according to your own statistics. You don't think that is weird? Do you also think that it is normal that if a mother with Rh negative blood has a child with Rh positive blood, then the mother's blood becomes toxic to the offspring?"

Those statistics had me pausing. I knew I was Rh negative; in fact, it was one of the reasons that I had such a hard time when I needed to undergo surgery or have a blood transfusion. But I didn't think that we were that small of a percentage of the population.

But for a mother's blood to actually become toxic to a fetus, I had never heard of that happening.

"There is a blood product that a mother can have for the 10 months that she is pregnant to prevent her body from harming her child, but that is only necessary if the child is Rh positive," said Jun Li's voice softly as the elevator opened to the 15th floor. It was like he could hear the thoughts going around in my head.

"What does that mean?" I asked as I walked down the quiet halls to my apartment on the end unit.

"It means that the same species that first discovered your planet might have left more than just the Ozone layer if you know what I mean."

"Rh negative could be alien blood?" I asked stunned, my voice echoing through the halls.

"Well, most humans, 94% to be exact, are Rh positive. What does that tell you?" said Jun Li, leaving me completely blindsided.

I was an alien?